“How foolish to wish for a long life, but not care whether it is a good life; to be concerned only with the present, with never a thought of eternity and the endless joy that awaits you”–Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ.
“We do not know, and we may never know, what love is, but we can know how it manifests itself, and that is enough for us here. First we see it showing itself as good will. Love wills the good of all and never wills harm or evil to any. This explains the words of the apostle John: ‘There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear’ “–A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy, 105.
“When we read the news we say: ‘The worst is yet to come.’ When we read the Bible, we can say joyfully: ‘The best is yet to be!'”–Corrie ten Boom, Not I, But Christ, 16.
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives”—2 Peter 3:10-11.
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Linkage
Life is what happens between events:
A date of birth, a date of death.
A dash between to tell the rest:
The bringing of love, of happiness,
Of learning the wisdom of Blessedness.
The little dash tells of hopes and fears
It tells of the struggle for life through all those years.
Life is a victory that is given, a battle won.
But, the war goes on from sun to sun.
And when the last battle is fought
In this plain called the flesh;
Let victory be in the thought
That life is refreshed.
For life is more than muscle and sinew.
It is the spirit within that carries us through.
When we’re at one with our Maker
And He is our Guide,
Our enemies are vanquished
As He stands by our side.
So let us remember there is a last breath
That all born will take.
What others call death
Is life for our sake.
Marked as an event that follows the dash
That some call the end, the end of credit, of cash.
The end of worldly debts and balance due,
The time will come for each, its true.
The dash shows direction for each to choose.
Forward to win, or back to lose.
So let this be our call, our battle cry.
My refuge is Christ Jesus, who can never die.
Then, the end of this dash is only a passing
From this life to one, that is everlasting.
The oneness with Jesus is such a life:
Creator of all, and friend through all strife.
So, siblings, children and friends you see,
Don’t just live for now, but for eternity.
10/3/98 Edwin Matthew
Gone From My Sight
By
Henry Van Dyke
Taken from The Dying Experience by Barbara Karnes
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!”
“Gone where?”
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!” There are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“Here she comes!”
And that is dying, our passage from the flesh to the spirit which is no longer anchored only here.
Seventh Anniversary Night Remembrance of my Dad’s departure
My Beliefs:
I believe- that we don’t have to change friends. We understand that friends change.
I believe- that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
I believe- that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance;
same goes for true love.
I believe- that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
I believe- that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
I believe- that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
I believe- that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I believe- that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I believe- that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down, will be the ones to help you get back up.
I believe- that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
I believe- that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
I believe- that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I believe- that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
I believe- that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.
I believe- that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.
I believe- that the best way one can effect a positive change in the world is to effect a positive change in oneself.
I believe- that building life on a strong foundation already laid, will make a stronger, more productive, more lasting, happier life.
I believe- that a family is best defined by a willingness of its members to work together to accomplish something good through life.
I believe- that remembrances are important in so far as they help one keep an open eye on the road of life ahead.
I believe- that when we remind ourselves: that it is no accident that we are here,
that we are loved even when we are unlovable,
that we are cherished even when we are rude,
that when we feel hopelessness and realize our hope,
we are closer to being in the center of God’s Will and having His Joy fill our lives.
Like so much one incorporates in life, the above is largely found and adopted, somewhat modified in the process and additions are added through my own experience.
Frederick E. Matthew
Today is a day that will live in infamy!
Interesting, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed the nation’s outrage following the attack, which he called a “date which will live in infamy.” Within an hour, Congress had voted a declaration of war. As the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday, Roosevelt’s speech is considered a masterpieces of political action of the 20th century whose luster has only grown brighter.
From his speech: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
71 years ago today, many unassuming servants of our nation met their maker. I heard no one today mention the significance of this date in the normal course of the activities of the day unless I brought up the subject. Usually there was no response, often a questioning look as if to say, that is so much in the past, get over it.
Get over it indeed. A fellow Brother in Christ who interestingly enough has experienced in his family what I am dealing with now said last night as we walked in the woods, “It is not that they are not smart, it is that they are so overwhelmed in their greed and hubris they are willing to do anything to dominate.” Another Southern Baptist Family affirming how insignificant a label is in the significance of ideals.
“It is not that Christianity doesn’t work, it just hasn’t been tried.”
Blessings.
Matthew 7:7